


Disconnected

by allsassnoclass (brightblackholes)



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Established Relationship, Government Conspiracy, I wrote the first chapter for the final in one of my classes and now I might run with it, M/M, Revolution, Science Fiction, Surveillance, luke and ash are figuring things out, malum is married, this is much more of a dystopian thriller than a love story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:01:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24183283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brightblackholes/pseuds/allsassnoclass
Summary: Michael is used to living in a world where every move is watched and every conversation recorded.  It's always been an annoyance he has to deal with in order to maintain safety and order, but growing protests and increased government suspicion have everyone looking over their shoulder.  When people start to go missing, gone from all databases without a trace, he might have to reevaluate just what price he's willing to pay for security.
Relationships: Luke Hemmings/Ashton Irwin, Michael Clifford/Calum Hood
Comments: 7
Kudos: 13





	Disconnected

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this first chapter for the final in a college class I took on the surveillance state (and got 100/100 whoop whoop!). I might be able to turn this into something interesting so! Here it is!
> 
> lol this summary sucks catch me changing it as soon as I think of something better

Michael wakes up slowly, blinking in the morning sun because he forgot to close the curtains last night after he finally finished with his coding project. Calum was already snoring by the time he got into bed, but he’s always been a bit less of a night owl. He hadn’t even woken up when Michael slipped under the covers and curled himself around him, pressing his cold toes to Calum’s calves.

Michael tilts his head to check on him and finds Calum already awake, eyes tracking the stucco patterns in their ceiling.

“Morning,” Michael says. “How long have you been awake?”

Calum turns to him and smiles, the private one that he only ever shows to Michael in moments like this, soft and sleep-warm. Michael loves having something just for them.

He glances over at the webcam still set up on his desktop and amends that thought: Michael loves having something just for them and whatever random government agent may or may not be processing this footage.

“Not long,” Calum says, pulling him out of his thoughts. “It’s a lazy day today.”

Michael is already planning all of the ways they can fully capitalize on this when their front door slams shut.

“Hello?” a voice calls, and Michael hides his groan in Calum’s chest. A second later one knock sounds at their door before it’s opened.

“Every day I regret programming you into the facial recognition for the front door,” Michael says. “What if we had been naked?”

“Nothing I haven’t seen before,” Luke replies. Michael hates that he’s right, because during college Calum liked to get naked at every available opportunity and Luke acts like closed doors are invitations. “Why are you guys still in bed? It’s 10:30 already.”

“Lazy day,” Calum says.

“Sorry,” Luke replies, not sounding sorry at all. “Since I’m here anyway, does anyone want eggs?”

“No,” Calum groans. “No eggs near the microwave!”

“That was one time years ago and I really think--”

“Do you want me to make you an omelette or not?” Calum asks, and that shuts Luke right up. No one makes omelettes quite like Calum does, not even Ashton, who has single-handedly saved Luke from starving since he got sick of third-wheeling and they got sick of not having their own place.

Apparently Calum is feeling particularly generous, because he gets up and Michael immediately mourns the loss of his heat and their lazy morning. Calum bends down to press a kiss to his forehead, then starts towards the kitchen.

“I hate you,” Michael says. “I can’t wait until Ashton gets back and you can be his problem instead so I can cuddle Calum in peace.”

“You love me,” Luke retorts. Michael flips him off and doesn’t bother to check if he’s rolling his eyes or not.

“Come on,” he says. “You know Calum will make you one first if you actually get up.”

“Why are you so chipper?” he complains when Luke tosses back the covers.

“Because Ashton gets back today,” he says.

“You going to tell him about your big fat crush on him finally?” he asks, getting up and starting to head towards the delicious smells coming from the kitchen.

“Don’t say stuff like that! I’m going to start getting ads for flowers on my phone again and he’s going to be suspicious about what we’ve been discussing!”

“Luke has a crush! Luke is in love! Luke wants to look at engagement rings and wedding venues and expensive honeymoons in Bali!”

“Well, we all know that,” Calum says, not glancing up from the stove.

“You guys suck! I’m going to have to hide my phone screen from him for the next two weeks!”

“Hazards of the surveillance state,” Michael says, but his gut twists up a bit at the words. He knows that the constant voice recordings and video tapes are to keep everyone safe and secure, but sometimes he wonders what it would be like to be able to talk to Luke openly about his feelings without knowing that there’s always some computer collecting key words they say.

“What time does he get back in?” Calum asks. Luke takes a seat at the island next to Michael and he pulls out his phone, checking notifications while Luke reviews the itinerary of the art festival Ashton’s been in New York prepping for and attending. He has a new email from his boss and a few promos from various websites that he discards, then he scrolls mindlessly through social media, bypassing government updates from President Ellison, random celebrity thoughts, and a few pointless posts from people he knows in real life until Calum puts an omelette in front of him.

Luke spends the rest of the morning with them and part of the afternoon, until Calum reminds him that he probably should do the cleaning before Ashton gets home.

“I’m going to change the facial recognition on the front door,” Michael says as soon as Luke leaves.

“No you’re not,” Calum replies. “It’ll be too inconvenient the next time we go on vacation and need him to water the plants.”

“I wish we still had physical keys, like in the olden days. Then I could just take his back now and give it to him when we need him to house-sit.”

“You’d lose your key within the first week,” Calum says. Michael resents that. He wasn’t the most organized person when they first met, but they were 8 years old then and marriage has changed him. He tells Calum as much and just gets laughed at in response.

They decide to go get ice cream for dinner, because Calum has a goal to always get Michael out of the house on the days when he can afford to be separated from his projects and Michael is still pouting about not getting to stay in bed all day. The weather is cool, but not too cold, and Michael relishes getting to link his fingers with Calum’s and just exist together. They’ve been together for years and it’s been a few months since the wedding, but he doesn’t think they’ll ever leave the honeymoon period.

The walk is pleasant right up until they turn onto the main street. Calum pulls him up short at the massive crowd they can see blocking the road a block and a half away.

“It’s another protest,” Michael says dumbly. It must have just started, because there’s no police yet, but it’s huge. Michael heard whispers about unrest in some of the larger cities, but the news never covers it, and it’s mostly brief posts on social media that get taken down within minutes, screenshots circulating and the occasional video trying to press forward before the government catches up to those too.

For a moment, Michael is glad that Ashton’s still out of town for a few more hours. The last time a picture of one of these ended up on his timeline, there had been someone with Ashton’s black hair and one of his old bandanas covering their face, sunglasses that looked suspiciously like a pair of his that had gone missing perched over his eyes.

“Back home,” Calum says, turning around and pulling him forcibly when his feet don’t catch up as quickly. “We’ll order in.”

He hears Calum’s unspoken _we don’t want to be caught anywhere near this_. Michael isn’t dumb: he knows a bit better than most what type of information private corporations have access to due to his job, and he imagines the government would be much further reaching. Even if they’re not participating in the protest, phone data could possibly put them at the scene, and they can’t risk that.

He knows that the protests are against some of the newer surveillance technology, the recent conquests in Africa, and President Ellison’s 4th term. Rumors are that the voting was rigged in the local elections, and that journalists and public opposers have been going missing. He doesn’t know what group is organizing them, or how they get the word out. He’s too scared to try and find out.

Calum would never let him, anyway. His self-preservation skills have always been the best out of all their friends. Luke and Michael lack common sense and Ashton doesn’t value personal safety as much as he values standing up for his beliefs and having a good time.

The walk home is silent, and Michael desperately wants to ask Calum what he’s thinking but knows that it’s not safe with their phones in their pockets and cameras all around. At the house, Calum orders for them both without another word, and once the delivery gets there they eat in near-silence. Calum sends him glances here and there, because normally Michael doesn’t like too much silence when there’s tension, but he doesn’t know what he can say.

“Want to watch a movie?” Calum eventually asks. Michael nods, knowing that he’s going to zone out almost immediately. He can’t stop seeing the footage of the police breaking up protests that had landed across his timeline, the flash of black hair and bandana that could have been Ashton but that he hopes wasn’t.

They don’t even get the movie started before Luke opens the door.

“Guys?” he asks. Michael looks at turns to him and frowns. His eyes are wide, a slight tremor in his hands. He hasn’t seen him look this freaked in years.

“What’s wrong?” Calum asks. Michael is immediately on his feet, pulling Luke further into the room and grabbing his hands. They’re ice cold, and he starts rubbing them between his own to try and warm them up.

“Don’t--I’m not crazy, okay?”

“Of course not,” he soothes. Calum joins them, wrapping one arm around his shoulders.

“Okay. I just--I have a roommate, right? You’ve both met him?”

Michael freezes. Calum glances at him, then turns back to Luke.

“I think he’s a bit more than just a roommate,” he says, but the joke falls flat. Luke’s face screws up and Michael starts to panic a bit, because that’s the face he usually makes right before he starts to cry.

“Then why is my name the only one on the lease?” he asks.

“What do you mean?”

“I checked. I never got a message telling me to pick him up at the airport, and when I checked my phone I couldn’t find any of our old messages or his contact. I can’t find his social media. I tried to pull up his art site and it wasn’t there. I even checked our lease but my name is the only one on it.”

Michael remembers the black hair, the bandana. Ashton isn’t an idiot, but his judgement gets cloudy when he’s passionate.

He pulls out his phone and scrolls to their group chat, only it just contains the three of them now. He can’t find the message he sent him asking whether he thought Luke would like the necklace he bought him in New York, and in a spike of panic he checks his phone photos, now suspiciously absent of their selfies and hiking trips he makes them all go on and the sneaky pictures Michael’s been taking of him and Luke since last year in preparation for an eventual wedding gift. It’s like Ashton has disappeared off the face of the Earth.

He glances over at his own wedding picture, one of the only physical prints in the house. He and Calum are beaming in the middle with the best men at their sides. Ashton stands next to Calum, smiling wide enough to show his dimples.

“It’s okay,” Calum says, even though it isn’t. Luke lets out a choked sob. Michael thinks about the protest they saw earlier that day and wonders how many of those people will disappear next.

**Author's Note:**

> I only have a very vague idea of where this could be headed.... but perhaps I will write this anyway. Future chapters will likely be a bit longer. Also All Time Low may get involved. We'll see  
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated!  
> Find me on tumblr [here](https://allsassnoclass.tumblr.com)
> 
> fun fact: when I wrote this for class I made Luke and Ash girls because I changed their names anyway and #diversity so going back through to edit made me realize just how convenient having different pronouns for half the characters is. RIP kind of miss that. Was changing them back to dudes the right choice here? who knows! too late now to go back!


End file.
